Cultural Representative Program

One of the reasons I am where I am is because Carlo's Bakery allowed me and my family to share Italian culture and cuisine with the Hoboken community. The success of the bakery and television show where my Italian heritage and traditions are showcased has Americans asking: what is Italy all about?

Today, you can visit any one of our 19 bakeries to try the traditional recipes used to make our authentic Italian pastries, bringing a taste of Italy to people all over. But you know I love to do things BIGGER and Better, so I've got something that I'm really excited to announce...

Carlo’s Bakery is proud to welcome cultural representatives from Italy in an effort to expand our guests' knowledge of their home country and its rich culture. The cultural representatives will be available in-store to answer any questions our guests may have, as well as visiting local schools, events, festivals and more. Carlo’s Bakery wishes to provide a platform for our cultural representations to share their customs, heritage, history, and philosophy to provide further insights on the traditions that have played such a huge role in establishing the bakery as a respected outlet for Italian desserts.

What distinguishes Italian food from American food and others is that Italian food has a cultural, historical and artistic component. Food in Italy is crafted with care, oftentimes in a traditional fashion that is centuries old. In Italy, ingredients are hand-selected and are always fresh. Along with these component are century old local and regional culinary traditions. These traditions, even today, are followed in all food making such as when baking bread, pastries and other culinary treats.

The cultural representatives will impart first-hand knowledge of such local and regional traditions upon the American public through our Cultural Representative Program. Our bakery guests will learn where the ingredients come from, how the pastries are traditionally prepared, what they are best paired with, and a historical perspective of the names or physical appearances of certain baked goods. This is the learning experience that the Cultural Representatives will aim to impart upon our guests – an experience that will help our customers develop a relationship or personal connection to certain baked goods through learning about the traditions which shape them.

Since our Cultural Representatives will come from all regions of Italy, they will be the best sources to explain to the American public the richness of Italian traditions and customs that are specific to each of their respective regions, while having first-hand knowledge and experience with the culinary “niches” and traditions derived from their hometowns. This, ultimately, will offer our bake shop guests a special, tailored cultural learning experience of Italian culinary traditions, emphasizing the cultural component that makes Carlo’s Bakery food and bakery items so unique.

And if you live near one of our bakeries, you're in luck! We'll be hosting cultural nights every month where local residents can meet our Italian cultural representatives while sampling traditional pastries straight from their hometowns.

Get ready to join us soon for a little taste of Italy and a true Italian experience!